[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915) › v2.c16.11 # Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c16.11 Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c16.11 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c16.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c16.11) the celibacy of widows has not yet made its way everywhere. Crooke, \*The North-Western Provinces\*, 228 f., writes of this part of India : “Recent enquiries show that out of a population of 40,000,000 of Hindu, 9,000,000 or 24 per cent prohibit widow marriage, while 30,000,000 or 76 per cent both permit and even encourage the practice. . . . As a matter of fact, among all but the very highest castes, every young widow finds another mate, and the levirate, or custom by which the younger brother-in-law takes over the widow of his older brother, widely prevails.” Cp. too Chavannes, \*Cinq cents contes\*, ii, 293 ff. (the wife of a man that has vanished weds again) ; Bulloram Mullick, \*Home Life in Bengal\*, p. 123. - [Previous: v2.c16.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c16.10) - [Next: v2.c16.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c16.12) - [Up: v2.c16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c16) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c16.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c16.11) · Pramāṇa